Viola Brown Sanders, holding a Bible, swears in four WAVES who have signed up for another tour at U.S. Naval Station New Orleans, Louisiana, in June of 1949. All of the women wear the WAVES gray and white seersucker working uniform. Pictured (from...

Captain Viola Brown Sanders (right) shovels dirt while at a groundbreaking ceremony for a new women's barracks at Naval Training Center, Bainbridge, Maryland, with WAVES Commander Anne Ducey in the summer of 1965. Both women wear the WAVES...

A WAVES recruit company marches in formation on a parade ground at Naval Station Great Lakes, Illinois, in fall 1951. All of the women wear the WAVES service dress blue uniform with matching garrison cap.

Viola Brown Sanders, in WAVES service dress white summer uniform with commander's stripes and officer's service hat, serves as the reviewing officer during a parade at the Recruit Training Command for Women at U.S. Naval Training Center Bainbridge,...

WAVES Commanding Officer Anne Ducey and the base Commanding Officer hold a shovel at the groundbreaking ceremony for a new women's barracks at Naval Training Center, Bainbridge, Maryland, in the summer of 1965. Ducey wears the WAVES officer's dress...

Viola Brown Sanders speaks with two navy admirals and a civilian at a Navy Day celebration in Philadelphia in October 1962. The admiral to Sander's left was the head of the U.S. Naval Reserve Command. Sanders wears the service dress blue uniform...

Viola Brown Sanders (center) sits with Lieutenant Commander Wintersteen and Captain Stultz in Stultz's office at U.S. Naval Air Station, Lakehurst, New Jersey, on 7 November 1962. Sanders and Wintersteen wear the WAVES officer's service dress blue...

Viola Brown Sanders inspects a line of WAVES at U.S. Naval Security Station, Washington, D.C., in July of 1964. The women wear the WAVES blue and white striped summer service dress uniform, service cap with white cover, and gloves.

Captain Viola Brown Sanders (right, seated) and three other WAVES join Captain Stultz in his office at U.S. Naval Air Station, Lakehurst, New Jersey, on 7 November 1962. Pictured (from left to right) are: Ensign LeJeune, Lieutenant Banker, and...

U.S. and foreign servicewomen walk past what appears to be Fredriksborg Palace outside Copenhagen, Denmark, where they were attending the Atlantic Treaty Association's Danish Atlantic Association conference on "The Importance of Women in the NATO...

Viola Brown Sanders holds a model ship while teaching a "ships and aircraft" course to reserve officer candidates (ROCs) at Naval Station Great Lakes, Illinois, in 1951. All of the WAVES wear the service dress blue uniform.

WAVES (left to right) Viola Brown Sanders, Claire Brou, Mary Burnside, and Ida Moore have a discussion while attending a celebration of the 18th anniversary of the WAVES held in Washington, D.C., in July 1960. All of the women wear the officer's...

Viola Brown Sanders (center) and three WAVES stand around a piano played by PN3 B.J. Barrow in the recreation room of the WAVE barracks at Pearl Harbor Naval Station in October 1963. All the women wear the WAVES blue and white striped summer...

Viola Brown Sanders and a fellow WAVE follow a group of sailors as they exit a building at the Washington D.C. Naval Barracks for Males in August of 1963. Brown, in the WAVES blue and white striped summer service uniform and service cap with white...

Viola Brown Sanders poses with Lucille Ball at the New York Plaza Hotel in 1963. Ball, who holds a small item that reads, "WAVES 20th Anniversary," had called Sanders asking if she could do anything for the WAVES. Sanders wears the officer's...